Best domain for spanish language site targeting ALL spanish territories?

[KevinDunne]

hi, we're have a strong .com domain and are looking to launch a site for spanish speakers (ie latin america + spain).

we already have various subdirectories for some foreign language sites (eg. ourdomain.co.uk, us.ourdomain.com, ca.ourdomain.com, ourdomainchina.com, ourdomainindia.com etc)

we already have a B2B site ourdomain.com-es which will remain the same.

I'm thinking best practice would be to launch translated copy for the following:

ourdomain.com/es

ourdomain.com/cl

ourdomain.com/mx

ourdomain.com/pt etc etc

firstly is this the best option?

secondly, i'm really interested to hear whether there is a less time/resource intensive route that would give us visibility in ALL spanish speaking territories?

Also - if we go with just one of the above (eg ourdomain.com/cl) how likely are we to get traction in other spanish speaking territories?

any help much appreciated!

[KevinDunne]

Thanks so much Gianluca, v comprehensive.

I've decided to go for ourdomain.com/es/ as a solution for spanish speakers and i'll be sure to use rel=”alternate”hreflang=”x”.

[gfiorelli1]

Ok... let's try to answer to all your questions :).

Subdomain, subdirectories or country level domain names?

For sure I would avoid the subdomain option. Even though you can geo target a subdomain in GWT, it has not the same strenght of a country level domain name and, from a link building point of view, it doesn't help creating a larger link profile and it doesn't take any advantage from the root domain backlinks as the subfolder option.

So you have to choose between country level domain names or subcarpet. The choice, more than to SEO factors, depends on the overall business model you have in mind. If the site is - for instance - for a web based service, maybe the subcarpet is the best solution. If the site should reflect a strong presence in the targeted countries, therefore the best choice is a country level domain name.

Said that, both have advantages and defects:

1. Country level domain names:
   1. Google tends to prize these kinds of domain in the regional Google;
   2. People is used to look for "national" site with its country level domain name
   3. The worst defect is that you have to build as many link building and inbound marketing campaign as the country that are targeted, because they all start with an empty link profile.
2. Subcarpets
   1. You can geo target subcarpet in GWT
   2. Any geo targeted subcarpet take advantages of all the domain name link profile. Let's say. If your domain main version obtain a link from BBC, that links is partly benefitting also the other countries based subcarpet
   3. Subcarpets perform not so well as country level domain names in the regional Googles.

In both option you would remember to implement the use of rel alternate hreflang tag, in order to not having, for instance, the Chile version outranking the Peruan one, or - worst - to have Google considering all those spanish versions as duplicates.

There is a less time/resource intensive route that would give us visibility in ALL spanish speaking territories?

Yes... a good example is the one presented by Apple.com. In fact, it offers www.apple.com /la/ (latin america) subcarpet. They solve the "store" issue addressing the users to its distributors online shops or address.

In the case you have an eCommerce, than you would need to configure all the currencies and prize calculator in order to allow your users to configure the payments using theirs.

Said that, you would need to commit a very strong and "multi-country" link building and inbound marketing campaign in order to rank in every single regional Google with this solution.

Also - if we go with just one of the above (eg ourdomain.com/cl) how likely are we to get traction in other spanish speaking territories?

Theoretically it can happen. But it is mostly an exception, and - sincerely - not very loved by users.

If I look for a content in spanish and I live in Spain (as I do), I would prefer to click on .es or /es/ subcarpet site rather than a /cl/ one of .cl domain name, because I would not consider these latter option useful for my needs.